Mask
by rosa de chrystalline
Summary: A mask is used to hide the persons true emotions it reflects what the person wants to show others, not what they truly feel. Meet Maximum Ride, creator of these masks and M. Will she ever find some one that can break her masks?
1. Prologue

**I do not own the Maximum Ride series. All rights go to James Patterson**

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Mask. An object that hides even the most disgusting of faces, it covers the true feelings and motives of the ones wearing it. I am Maximum Ride, and I create and wear hundreds of masks everyday.

I made my first one at the tender age of seven when I saw my parent shot before my eyes, I remember looking through the crack in the cupboard, watching the figure of my mother as she stood, protectively in front of me, my father beside her fists clenched staring at the gun in front of him.

At an age when a child should be dreaming and laughing, I wore my emotionless mask and fought for my life on the streets, it was either that or get taken away by the orphanage. It wasn't until I met Ari did I learn that a mask doesn't truly hide my emotions. Ari took me under his wing and taught me how to twist my actions to match my mask, and blend in with my surroundings**. **

He was like a big brother I never had, note the _was_, Ari had died when I was thirteen, he was shot as well. Pretty ironic, huh?

Now four years later I have perfected my masks, I can blend in with anything or anybody. At school I am the nerd, at work I am the cheerful girl, at a party I am the wallflower, at home I am me. Maximum, Max and M.

You may be wondering at this point what M is, well that's my name at work. I am, what I guess you would call a spy, but not in the conventional sense, oh no. I don't work for the CIA or the FBI, I am a private spy hired by others to gather information on who ever they want.

Who are these 'others' you ask, well the others are my clients, they usually range from a 12 year old wanting information on her crush's life to a policeman wanting inside gang information. Yeah pretty big range, right? Sure the job can Be dangerous at times but, that's life for you besides, I am pretty good at what I do.


	2. Chapter 1

**I do not own the Maximum Ride series. All rights go to James Patterson **

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I stepped out of the apartment and locked the door behind me, testing the knob to make sure it was locked. I clutched my bag pack and headed down stairs, I took a right after I left the apartment complex , towards the dirty yellow bus filled with hormonal teenagers.

My hand touched my faced making sure the thick black glasses ( you know the ones you call nerdy) were thereand went to the ends of my pigtails to make sure I remembered the rubber bands. Then I let my hands fall to play with the end of the grey cardigan I wore over the white turtle neck and jeans. ' going into nerd mode' I thought as I approached the bus.

I got on and quickly scurried over to the back pretending to 'trip' over the cheerleaders feet on my way. I sat in the last unoccupied seat and took out a book to read.

"Look Maxine's reading a book," sneered Lisa, the red head sitting across from me.

Wrinkling her nose as she read the title ' Ewww, _Animal Farm_, what are you a first grader' she laughed as if she thought she was the smartest person in the world for coming up with a good comeback, and tossed her flaming red hair back

' Are you an idiot ? Oh wait you are, since when did Orwell write

books for first graders ? even then are you blind enough to not even see the size of the book, no first grader can read a book this size' I thought into the book.

I forced my face to turn red as if I was blushing from embarrassment and looked over the edge of the book shyly. I let my eyes water a bit as if she hurt my feelings and quickly glanced back down when I saw fang smirk in my direction ' fooling the dimwit and cohorts, success' .

Here I should take a break and explain about my school. After my parents died I still attended school if not possible made for what I missed online,( after all I still needed an education and I sure as hell will not end up as a bum on the streets) I got accepted into flock academy high school based on recommendations from the mayor( lets just say M really helped him out). To keep my real identity from being exposed I entered as Maxine Martinez, and fitted myself to play the role of the nerd, I mean, who would look into a nerd's background, and I wouldn't have to go through the trouble of making friends.

At the top of the school was the head cheer leader and residential slut Lisa, followed by her sister Brigid, Lisa's boyfriend Nick aka Fang was the head football player and all around jock followed by Brigid's boyfriend Sam. I was towards the bottom of the social hierarchy, a supposed nerd that had a timid personality, always had her head in a book , got straight A's, and took all honors classes.

The bus pulled up to the front of a large grey building and opened its doors. I got off the bus, clutching the book to chest tightly with my head down.

I felt a buzz go off in my pocket 'some one wants M ' Ithought as i changed the direction i was going in and quietly headed around the school to the abandoned courtyard. There was still ten more minutes until the bell rang, so I can quickly read the text, go to my locker and make it to class with two minutes to spare.

As I approached the gazebo that stood in the center of the courtyard I pulled out my phone and checked my surroundings carefully, only to freeze when my eye caught a black figure standing in the gazebo.

How did he follow me without me noticing him?

" Well, well, what's the nerd doing here in the courtyard alone "said the figure as he stepped out into the morning sun. How on earth did _he_ get here with out me noticing him?


	3. Chapter 2

I** do not own Maximum Ride all rights go to James Patterson**

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Fang stepped out into the morning light with his trademark smirk adorning his face.

"So why is wittle Maxie- poo all alone, no one to play with before school?" I ignored the urge to tell him off and managed to blush a bit.

"I ...I...I am so sorry I didn't think this area was occupied, I m...m..merely wanted to finish the book I was reading" I squeaked out.

Fang snorted, " I need the homework" he stated as he stuck his hand out

" H..h..h...homework?" I stammered " Ummm, I'm sorry we have different classes, I don't think I have the same homework assignments as you do." I mentally rolled my eyeballs while looking at the ground.

But then I realized I was still holding M's cell phone in my hands and froze, hoping Fang hadn't noticed yet. Sadly, however, he was granted the gift of a few brain cells and a pair of sharp eyes.

He leaned over and snatched it out of my hands" Why does Maxie need a cellphone, it's not like you have anyone to call "he taunted

Just then my cell buzzed in Fang's hands reminding me of the text I hadn't checked yet.

" Looks like I was wrong Maxine does have a nerd friend, let's see who it is."

My eyes widened, under no circumstance could he read my message, I tried to grab for the cell while he held it up out of my reach.

"Bad Maxine, you don't need this phone"

"Please give it back it's important" I said as I made my eyes wide and watery like I was about to cry. I saw him falter a bit and took it as my cue to snatch the phone out of his hands, accidentally stomping on his foot in the process. I then turned and ran like crazy ignoring the calls behind me. Thankfully, I was able to avoid him for the rest of the school day and managed to have a peaceful bus ride home.

As I reached the door of my apartment I noticed a pile of boxes sitting on top of each other on by the next door neighbors door, 'Looks like I have new neighbor's, joy" I muttered to myself as I unlocked the door and walked into the apartment.

I dropped my bookbag by the door and tossed my glasses and cardigan on the dining table as I jumped onto the couch unbraiding my hair.

I took out the cellphone then and unlocked the screen to read the waiting text.

_Hi M, _

_I need your help, can we meet at the fountain in the center of the river stone mall at 9 o' clock tonight I will be wearing a green scarf_

_thanks Nudge_

I read the message over again to make sure I got the location right and pushed my self off the couch leaving the cellphone on the dining table as I passed it.

I walked into my bedroom to throw on a pair of sweatpants and a blue tank top and glanced at the clock on the wall 6:30, cool, do homework for an hour, finish, order takeout 7:35, clean the room for a bit until takeout arrives, eat dinner 8:30, and leave for the mall.

'Sounds like a plan Max' I said to myself and started to work.

It was now 7:45 and I finished picking up the last piece of cloth off the floor and tossed it into the hamper. I stood up and observed the apartment, everything was clean with time to spare.

I jumped onto the couch once again and turned on the T.V. Just when I was about to settle on what channel I wanted to watch, the doorbell rang.

I sighed as I glanced up at the clock, the takeout guy was early. I grabbed my wallet off the counter and took out a twenty, and walked towards the door. I opened it and was about to hand him the money when I heard a familiar voice say " Hey, I am your new neighbor." I glanced up to see the surprise go through his eyes "Maxine?"

oh crap.

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**Please review and checkout my other story, STUCK, (but it isn't a maximum ride fanfic)**


	4. Chapter 3

**sorry about the really late update, I have got exams going on so I am just updating a bit in my free time. if the quality of this chapter seems off from my usual writing I sincerely apologize...So without further ado the story**

**I do not own Maximum Ride all rights go to James Patterson**

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The twenty dollar bill slipped out of my hand and gently cascaded down to the ground. We both reached for it at the same time, and as our hands touched electricity sparked... my face turned hot and his had a small nervous smile on it. We both looked into each others eyes and then we realized, we have found the perfect other. If you really think this is what happened then you are delusional, in what universe would my hand touch his and electricity spark, maybe out of the pure hatred I harbor for him but never love, ever. And the whole perfect other crap, please, the only perfect other for him is the trashcan.

I had a firm grip on the dollar bill as I stared into his eyes trying to figure out what to say. I quickly put up a questioning look as one of my eyebrows raised, "Maxine?" I said trying to sound as confused as possible, "Oh you mean my little sister, she is at the library right now, are you a friend of hers?"

I saw a look of doubt cross through Fangs eyes he dropped his gaze further down scanning my body and then returning it to meet my eyes as the right side of his lip twitched up. That bastard just checked me out!

"Yeah, I am a friend of Maxine's. Want to invite me in now?" he said as his smirk grew. _Friends, you have got to be kidding me_ I thought as I stood my place blocking him from entering.

"As much as I would like to have you over, I am very busy, so sorry" I said as I placed a tight smile on my face. Of course the world just loved to prove me wrong, because delivery guy just happened to show up with my takeout right then.

"Doesn't look like you are too busy, mind if I join?" Fang said leaning on the door frame. _Actually I do mind you arrogant oaf._

"Well..." I started before he interrupted me

"I will pay and I can bring over dessert, my mom gave me a box of her chocolate chip cookies and I can't eat it all." I gulped, paying for dinner and CHOCOLATE chip cookies the deal was too good. I am pretty sure that I can stand him for just a half hour, right?

**time****skip**

This idiot is eating all of my food, he took the last dumpling and over half of my Lo Mein and what do I get? Only one stinking cookie. ONE! What happened to the box, you ask? Well, Fang the idiot currently has it in his lap and is happily munching on the fifth cookie. This is my house and I am Max. I will not sit by and watch him eat my little slices of heaven in front of me. When he started to reach for the sixth cookie I couldn't take it any more I pounced on him and tackled him to the ground.

" Give me my cookies" I growled climbing on top of him in an attempt to get the box. he reached into the box and stuffed a handful of cookies into his mouth.

"mmmpph" he said as he moved the box away from me and quickly tried to chew the cookies in his mouth. I tried to make a grab for he box again but fang rolled over on top of me and swallowed the cookies in his mouth. "You work pretty fast, wouldn't you prefer the bed to the ground" he smirked. My face grew hot as I became aware of our position. I growled and kicked him off and quickly stood, brushing off the crumbs on my sweatpants.

"I wanted my cookies. You said I could have them."

"Yeah, and I gave you a cookie"

"A cookie not cookies there is a difference"

"Well maybe I lied."

"You li-" then my phone went off reminding me of M's appointment. crap, I glanced at he clock and stifled a gasp it was 8:45 I was late. "Oh look at the time! I t was nice meeting you, Fang was it?" he started to say something as I interrupted him by pulling him up and started pushing him towards the door " Well it is my bed time now. so bye bye have fun."

" Wait a minute you go to bed at 8:45?" Fang said as he turned around and narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

" Well, you know the saying early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise. So goodnight." I said as I started pushing him toward the door again.

" But we are having so much fun. Wouldn't you rather I spend the night here" Fang said as he turned around and clasped my hands, giving me puppy dog eyes. _We having fun? ha ha ha_

I sighed " Listen, puppy dog eyes don't work on me" I replied as I attempted to push him again, but he stood his place I sighed and ran my hand through my hair." Dude, you have got two options you can either leave through the door or I can throw you out the window," I said as I glared at him.

He pouted and stomped his way out towards the door " we are so over " he yelled in and slammed the door shut. I blinked in surprise at the dramatic exit, it seemed a bit out of character and a tad bit suspicious . Oh well, he finally left. I quickly grabbed the car keys and and the cellphone and walked out of the apartment only to run into a solid black wall.

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**Read and review please :) and read my other Maximum Ride fanfic Flower**


	5. Chapter 4

**So my exams are finally over (at least until a week or two later) ! yeah ^_^ so to treat myself and you guys,my awesome readers i have updated, and so with out further ado Mask**

**I do not own the maximum ride series all rights go to James Patterson**

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I glance up holding my nose only to see fang smirking while looking down at me.

" So bed time huh" he said as he leaned his back against the wall

" Well, I was going to go to bed, but then I realized I ran out of milk for tomorrow morning, so I have to make a quick trip to the grocery store" I said flashing a quick smile _what is he a stalker, why wait outside my door_

" Well let us go then" he said as he took my hand and steered me towards the stairs

" Hold up, WE? It really is a quick trip I don't need company." I said as I snatched my hand out of his grasp. I glanced at the watch on my wrist _I have spent two minutes of M's time on this buffoon can't he get the memo already. M was known for her punctuality, I have got to get rid of him but how._ I eyed the stairs, _as much as I hate playing the damsel in distress card this is probably the only way to get rid of him._

"Alright" I said as I let out a big sigh " you can come"

" Good " he replied as he nudged me towards the stairs. I walked down three steps before I 'tripped' and landed on my butt. I placed my foot in an awkward position and gasped reaching towards it

" Are you alright" Fang said as he looked at my leg then my face. While looking into his eyes making mine wide and teary I tightened my grip around the ankle leaving a red mark and gently removed it. Fang looked away from my face and back down at my ankle, he gently touched it as I hissed in pain.

" That has got to hurt" he said as he carefully tried to lift me

" Oww" I cried out

" Sorry"

" It's alright, Listen Fang, leave me here don't try to move me, it hurts" I squeaked out making it sound as though I was in deep pain, I then looked up at him let a tear trail down my cheek "Can you please do me a favor and get some ice for my ankle? It might help"

" Sure" and he quickly went back up the three steps and ran to his apartment. Making sure he was out of sight I quickly wiped off my tears and stood up and ran as fast as I could to the car and pulled it out.

**timeskip**

I stood at the fountain waiting for this nudge chick to show up. To clarify things I am going to pause and tell you, that Nudge is not my clients real name and I don't really care to know her real name. Why? because it prevents me from making connections and getting close to people. M works with her clients in a business relationship, they tell me what they need and I finish it, no touching memories or romance involved. After all the last thing I need is for someone to blackmail me.

Finally I spot this girl with dark chocolate skin and straight black hair donning a green scarf with matching color flip flops along with light blue skinny jeans and some brand named t- shirt. As our eyes met she grinned and started waving wildly at me. I mentally rolled my eyes _please let this not be another overly preppy chick who needs me to get revenge on her boyfriend. I have already done way too many of those._

As she starts to get closer she wrinkles her nose in disgust

" Please tell me you aren't M, because I imagined M, with a bit more fashion sense I mean look at you. you are gorgeous why not flaunt your good looks? That top would look uber cute with like a cardigan maybe a mini skirt, speaking of mini skirts I absolutely adore anything mini like cars or jewelry did you know mini is small which is petite in french. I love France they have the most awesometastic places out there I mean the boutiques are-" my eye started to twitch

" Sorry to interrupt, I really don't care for France right now so if-

" You don't care for France but Fr-" she said as she started to pout

" Before you start a whole another rant, may I remind you we have a strict business relationship and I really don't care to know your likes and dislikes" I said as I looked her in the eye. I know I may come off harsh but better to squash any connections before hand than after when it gets more difficult too " I can either charge you before or after the job depends on your trust in me getting the job done. Before we go into detail about the payments the job for M"

" Ok, so it all started when i was watching t.v-"

" Listen, Ms. Nudge let's try to keep it as concise as possible or I will refuse to do the job"

"Fine" she pouted once again " But you aren't really as I expected you to be. you look like you are-" she stopped taking when she saw my glare

"So what had happened was, you know the latest superstar/ idol everyone loves, Dylan Hall **(made up the last name)**. Well I recently sent him a love letter confessing all of my affections towards him and his heavenly voice until I realized I sent the wrong letter. The letter I was suppose to send him was switched with a document containing all of the codes to unlock who the FBI secret spy agents are and where they are located. So I kinda need you to get it back for me" she said as she looked down tapping her pointer fingers together.

_You have got to be kidding me_

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**so do you like it so far? please read and review. And I have started a new maximum ride story called attempt please read it when you get a chance to :)**


	6. Chapter 5

**hello fanfictionites :) its been a while.. a long while ha ha ha ha ha ... sorry about the wait I guess with the arrival of summer break I just have gotten lazy. so forgive any grammar and spelling mistakes you see in here. and enjoy the chapter **

**I do not own Maximum ride all rights go to James Patterson **

**and before I start all italics are ****_max's thoughts_**

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"Remind me again, Ms. Nudge why you need to do my make up." I said steely as I looked at her reflection in mirror on the vanity table. Before my lovely audience starts jumping to conclusions I need to add that this vanity is not mine, it belongs to Miss talk-a-lot who had somehow managed to kidnap me during my jog in the park (thank God I was Max at the time). Thereby leading me to my current predicament, tied to a chair in front of a huge vanity that is cluttered with makeup and items of that sort, reevaluating my training of dodging kidnaps and attacks and wondering if I should train myself some more to avoid this happening in the future.

" Oh Max, don't worry I am here to help you with your make up. Sweetie by the time I am finished with you, not even your mother can recognize you"_ she probably can't after all she is buried six feet under_ " Wow, this is the first time I have felt skin this soft what do you put on it, I am so envious, really I mean it, I have to put on a heaping amount of lotion every morning and at night I have a full blown face mask. and darling you can NOT talk in those do you know ho-"

" Miss, can you just get done with this make up stuff. I am perfectly capable of putting on my own disguises you know" I said interrupting her rant

" What is up with all this Miss stuff, just call me Nudge, Miss just makes me sound so old, like a grandma of seventeen grand-kids , I mean, that is so old, like literally a who-"

"Nudge, Shut up"

"Well" she huffed

**time skip**

" Well, do you like it?" Nudge said as she held up a small mirror to my face. I eyed the face looking back at me warily, she looked exactly like those girls I would see on T.V. stuck in the middle of a huge crowd shouting words of encouragement to her beloved idol. The teen in front of me had, pin straight dark brown hair light brown eyeshadow that gradually became a dark black at the end of the eyelid along with black eyeliner and heavy mascara as well as lip gloss and blush. Basically, I would fit into the crowd perfectly.

I grunted in approval and Nudge beamed like crazy, maybe the chick did have some talent. Nudge then grabbed my elbow and dragged me over to her closet and swung the door open. She walked in and came back out only to throw jean shorts and a neon pink t- shirt into my face.

" Change" she commanded, I raised my eyebrow in response and held out the shirt to inspect it. It was an annoyingly bright neon pink shirt with a huge face of who I suppose is Dylan Hall plastered in the middle surrounded by a huge heart and in red letters ' I love Dylan ' written underneath. well it will certainly help blend me into the crowd, but do I like it ? No. I rolled my eyes and turned around to start changing.

**time skip**

I groaned staring around the dimly lit arena, the smell of perfume was nauseating and the crowds were unbearable, and I was here an hour before the concert. My eyes sweeped around the arena as I checked out all possible escape routes and exits in case I need to abort the mission. I couldn't stand the arena any more and got out of my seat and headed towards the huge doors in the back in hopes of escaping the sickening smell and high pitched voices. However,I ended up ramming into a black wall.

_I have got to stop making this a habit or my nose won't last much longer._

I look up to see Fang staring down at me with a hand around Lisa's waist

so much for my breath of air

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**well do you like it? if so review please :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**hey you guys ****(^-^*)/**** Rosa de Chrystalline here i know i haven't been updating as often as i was suppose to... sorry about that**  
**(0/0)＞**

**but i think the thing stopping me from doing so is the lack of reviews i really don't know if anyone is reading my writing without the reviews so please review as much as possible (every chapter if you want to o(^-^)o )**

**just please leave a review and let me know if you like the chapter and if you didn't then why and I think that will help greatly for me to develop as a writer and give you guys better chapters.**

**so please review ****よろしくぅ****(^o^)/ **

**con muchos amor**

** and loads of virtual cookies**

**_Rosa _** -'-,-


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